27th Mar 26 | 16:08
Studies by Book
Luke 18 18-30 FOLLOWING JESUS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE 12 The miracle of choosing Jesus
📖 Luke 18:18-30
09Oct2020 - *The miracle of choosing Jesus* - _Luke 18:18-30_ - FOLLOWING JESUS TO HAVE ETERNAL LIFE 12 – Bible reading: _Luke 19:8-10_
We now have come to the place in this story, where the Rich Young Ruler took a value judgement and decided that his possessions were more important to him than eternal life. He walked away from Jesus and in doing so he walked away from eternal life.
_Luke 18:23-24 But when he heard this, he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. (24) And when Jesus saw that he became very sorrowful, He said, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!_
Why was he sorrowful? He had decided that mammon would be his trust and not Jesus and he could have been confident about his decision but no, he was sad.
He was sad because he suddenly realised that the matter of following Jesus was the matter of his trust, his very life and his being had to be Jesus and not mammon. He never expected to be confronted on such a basic issue of life.
Now that the matter was plain before him and he understood that his life was built on materialism and not on God, he was shaken. He had expected to have eternal life, without ever being bothered on the matter of his trust and dependence on mammon.
Friends, are we able to see ourselves being represented by the Rich Young Ruler? We do not want to be confronted or troubled about the matter of our trust and dependence on materialism.
Mammon is the atmosphere we live in. We raise up our children in the same environment. Though we say, we raise God-fearing children, we, in truth, raise them in the atmosphere of materialism. We tell them to study well, so that they will do well in life, have a good future, be well settled, not to be a burden on anybody else, have money to give for missions etc.
We also tell them to read their Bible, pray, attend Sunday School or youth fellowship, accept Jesus as their personal Saviour and be involved in ministry and missions. We have communicated to them that all of these activities that we do will give us eternal life. We have, in reality, taught and raised them to trust in mammon.
The Lord was now processing this incident with His disciples. This is where we reach the heart of the story.
_Mark 10:23-27 Then Jesus looked around and said to His disciples, "How hard it is for those who have riches to enter the kingdom of God!" (24) And the disciples were astonished at His words. But Jesus answered again and said to them, "Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God! (25) It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." (26) And they were greatly astonished, saying among themselves, "Who then can be saved?" (27) But Jesus looked at them and said, "With men it is impossible, but not with God; for with God all things are possible."_
This matter of trust in mammon can only be overcome by the intervention of God. Jesus made it abundantly clear to His disciples that those, who trust in riches cannot enter the kingdom of God. The illustration of the camel and the eye of a needle was given to make this point clear.
To overcome his trust, security and his entire life, which was based out of mammon, to trusting in God, the Rich Young Ruler, needed a miracle to take place in his life.
Imagine, if at this point, the young man had fallen once more at the feet of Jesus, repent, cry to the Lord, seeking Jesus to change his heart from trusting mammon to trusting Him, would that miracle, would that intervention of God, taken place?
Surely, yes. There would have been a miracle that day and the Rich Young Ruler would have been following Jesus. We would have been reading an entirely different script. Alas, this did not happen but instead, the young man went away, sorrowful.
This was the miracle that happened with Zacchaeus. _Luke 19:8-10 Then Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Look, Lord, I give half of my goods to the poor; and if I have taken anything from anyone by false accusation, I restore fourfold." (9) And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, because he also is a son of Abraham; (10) for the Son of Man has come to seek and to save that which was lost."_
*Thought to ponder*
```Have you had that miracle in your life, where your life is no more lived out of mammon but on the living God?```